Floridians Retain Right to Keep Firearms in Cars

[mettle]

Floridians Retain Right to Keep Firearms in Cars

After a three-year fight, the Orlando Sentinel reports, gun rights advocates in Florida won the right to keep firearms in their cars at work.

According to a story in the Orlando Sentinel, you can take your gun to work, but there are restrictions. "Florida's Preservation and Protection of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms in Motor Vehicles Act of 2008" isn't completely cut-and-dried. So don't put your pistol in your lunchpail until you know the rules.

First, not just anyone can bring a gun to work.

Only those with a concealed weapon permit from the state of Florida are protected by the law. The NRA had pushed for this change for years, arguing that many law-abiding gun owners were left unprotected on their way to and from work because their employers prohibited firearms on their property.

The Florida Chamber of Commerce and the Florida Retail Federation fought hard against the bill. They argued it would trample businesses' private property rights by taking away their ability to set policies for their employees.

But a federal judge upheld the law, which applies to full- and part-time employees, independent contractors, volunteers, interns and other similar positions. Employers aren't allowed to search workers' vehicles looking for guns — or even ask employees if they have one, according to the story in the Sentinel.

What was labeled the "guns-at-work" law really should be called the "guns-in-the-parking-lot" law, gun-rights advocates say.

"It conjured up images of people having guns in their office or in their plant. It was deliberately misleading," NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer said.

The law doesn't allow gun-owners to carry semi-automatics weapon into offices or supermarkets where they work. Rather, it only allows them to leave it locked up in their car outside. In effect, it prevents most employers from telling their workers to leave their weapons at home.

There are exceptions. The law doesn't apply to schools, prisons, nuclear power plants, defense plants or businesses that have combustible or explosive materials.

The exemptions built into the law became controversial after the law was passed. Some employers, including Disney and Universal Studios, twisted themselves into odd shapes to get an exemption.

Disney claims an exemption because it has a permit for explosives — namely, fireworks used in its extensive pyrotechnic displays. Universal Orlando houses a work-study program staffed by Orange County Public Schools, so it also prohibits firearms on its property.

A Disney security guard defied the ban and sued after he was fired. Eventually, the case was dismissed.

State law also allows people to carry a gun in their vehicle even without a concealed-weapon permit, as long as it is secured and "not readily accessible for immediate use."

So, businesses can't kick you out for having a firearm on their property, as long as it's locked up and not being brandished.

 

[Bill of Rights]

While I can agree that people should be able to protect themselves, I also see that the employee does not HAVE to work for someone who restricts in this manner. Conversely, what the employee has in his car, especially locked up, not visible, should be no one's business but his own. Locked in his car, it affects no one at all. The car is his private property, as is the land the owner's private property, open to business guests. The employee has other options: he can park offsite, he can be dropped off to work. I disagree with the actions of the landowner who wishes to prohibit guns, but it is his right to do so. The court did not agree.

We will continue to hear this argument until we have the "sea change" I've written about before; the change in general attitude in re: self-defense, where people realize that the right and the responsibility to be armed and take care of yourself is yours alone.

Mettle, thanks for posting this. I don't like the wording of the title (You retain your rights even if the law doesn't allow you to exercise them), but I also know you didn't write it, you just reposted it here. Good find.

Blessings,
Bill

 

[Fletch]

Way back when, I remember reading about one state or another that essentially decided your car was an extension of your home, and you retained your property rights as a homeowner within your car. This was in regard to carrying/transporting firearms, searches by police, and what your employer could or could not do. The gist of it was, the employer's property rights end where the rubber meets the road, so to speak, and yours begin there. Take the gun out of the car, you're on their property. Handle it in the car, you're on your property. I don't remember much more than that, but it seems like a perfectly reasonable way to resolve the apparent conflict of property rights.

 

[mettle]

While I can agree that people should be able to protect themselves, I also see that the employee does not HAVE to work for someone who restricts in this manner. Conversely, what the employee has in his car, especially locked up, not visible, should be no one's business but his own. Locked in his car, it affects no one at all. The car is his private property, as is the land the owner's private property, open to business guests. The employee has other options: he can park offsite, he can be dropped off to work. I disagree with the actions of the landowner who wishes to prohibit guns, but it is his right to do so. The court did not agree.

We will continue to hear this argument until we have the "sea change" I've written about before; the change in general attitude in re: self-defense, where people realize that the right and the responsibility to be armed and take care of yourself is yours alone.

Mettle, thanks for posting this. I don't like the wording of the title (You retain your rights even if the law doesn't allow you to exercise them), but I also know you didn't write it, you just reposted it here. Good find.

Blessings,
Bill

I'm just glad to see something positive in this section of the forum for a change. Just flat sick of the 'usual' banter and bored with it.
THIS is a good thing. I think I need to move to FL! They have more fish and wildlife enforcement work down there anyways! Once I get my bachelor's....

 

[MyGlockRocks19]

As a former resident, I will say that Florida has some excellent pro-gun laws. I was living there when this was first being debated.

 

[henktermaat]

Good and interesting find.

It's a shame that carrying a gun on our cars here in IN is illegal without permit. In NC where I go from time to time, your car is almost like your house. You can carry openly in your car without their carry permit. (Other than that, NC is like California compared to Indiana.)